The armed forces have made elaborate arrangements to conduct aerial fly-pasts, light up ships at sea and shower flower petals on several hospitals across the country on Sunday to express gratitude to lakhs of doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff and other front-line workers engaged in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Thethanks-giving activities will start with laying of wreaths at the policememorial in Delhi and in several other cities on Sunday morning to honour thepolice personnel deployed in enforcement of the nationwide lockdown, officialssaid.
Itwill be followed by fly-pasts by fighter jets and transport aircraft of theIndian Air Force, covering a sizeable number of cities and towns across thecountry between 10 AM and 11 AM, officials said.
Officialssaid fighter aircraft formations, comprising Sukhoi-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguar,will be flying over Rajpath, Delhi’s centrepiece boulevard, and will orbit overthe city for around 30 minutes from 10 AM.
“Inaddition, C-130 transport aircraft will follow a similar profile as fighterscovering the entire Delhi and NCR region. The aircraft will be flying at anapproximate height of 500 metres to 1000 metres keeping aerospace safety inmind especially in respect of bird activity,” an IAF official said.
Anotherofficial said the fly-past will cover major towns starting from Srinagar toThiruvananthapuram and Dibrugarh to Kutch.
“Helicopters from the IAF and Indian Navy will fly over hospitals treating coronavirus patients and shower petals as a tribute to the corona warriors,” Army Spokesperson Col Aman Anand said.